Classics, Nonfiction, and Children's Literature
What is your favorite fairy tale? Mine has always been Beauty and the Beast; I loved the Disney movie when it first came out. I’ve always wondered, though, how the Beast became so beast-like so fast and that no one remembered him in that castle! The Beast Within by Serena Valentino (Disney Book Group, July
I love books about words and I love fun stories about sisters. Ava and Pip by Carol Weston (Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, March 2014) is both of those, told through a young girl’s diary. I have always (until kids, at least) been a regular journal writer as well, so I enjoy stories told from this perspective. Ava
Happy Independence Day! To celebrate America’s special holiday, I thought I’d review a patriotic and historical book. Visual learning is best for many young kids. A Timeline History of the Thirteen Colonies by Mary K. Pratt (Lerner, November 2014) provides a visual understanding of history by representing some of the main events in the development
Are you ready for adorable? Because these two board books definitely fit the bill! For anyone who has read my blog for any length of time, you will know that I absolutely love reading the classics. So why not read and enjoy a board book version of some classics? Cozy Classics: Tom Sawyer and Cozy
Knees by Vanita Oelschlager (Vanita Books, 2012) and Wings by Christopher Meyer (Scholastic Press, 2000) are two middle-grade books about differences and coming to accept being different. Knees is told from the perspective of a young boy learning to deal with his dyslexia. Wings is told from the perspective of a girl who observes the new boy in town,
I am an active Christian. I believe God created the world. I also believe we do not know how God created the earth, and I do not believe in a literal, seven-day creation. All I have learned about the big bang theory and the evolutionary history of the earth has only solidified the testimony that
Are You Sleeping, Little One? by Hans-Christian Schmidt and Cynthia Vance (Abbeville Press, August 2012) shows various illustrated animals in various stages of getting ready for sleep with a soft and gentle rhyme. The repeated words “Are you sleeping?” on each page provided a sense of continuity that my daughter simply loved. I appreciated the fact that
Chitchat by Jude Isabella (Kids Can Press, September 2013) is a delightful exploration of language for a young adult reader. It explores so many aspects of language that I felt like I was a little bit in heaven since I appreciate and love languages and words so much. At 48 pages, it obviously only skimmed
It’s always fun when picture books play on words to get your attention. When my son (age 5) first started reading Pig and Small by Alex Latimer (Peachtree, August 2014), he commented, “The author should have called this book Big and Small because Pig is big and the bug is small! They are opposites.” He
Sometimes a clever and intriguing storyline makes a novel great. Sometimes, it is the interaction of a number of interesting characters. And other times, a novel is great because of the carefully developed setting that gives life to the situations and characters. In One Came Home (January 2013, Knopf Books for Young Readers), Amy Timberlake
What is better than a fun story about hundreds of little animals (like 999 Tadpoles)? What is better than a Where’s Waldo search? Try 100 Hungry Monkeys by Masayuki Sebe (Kids Can Press, 2014)! In this story, 100 hungry monkeys need something to eat, so they start looking for it and they end up having an adventure.
The Great Gilly Hopkins is not an easy book to read. Gilly is a child in a difficult situation. She is a child without a family, moved through the foster care system. She does not make it easy for her foster parents, because she believes that her mother loves her and needs her. She dreams
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